North Carolina Lottery: Player confusion leads to early end for N.C. lottery game
North Carolina Lottery officials are stopping one of the state's scratch-off games, saying it is confusing to some players.
Orders for the "2X the Money" game have stopped and lottery staffers will pick up tickets from retailers.
The game allows players to double winnings of up to $100 if the card displays a bold "2X" symbol. But the card also contains a security feature designed as a thin "x," which led to the confusion.
"There has been some confusion by players regarding the game," said Tom Shaheen, the lottery's executive director, in a statement released late Wednesday. "We decided that it was in the best interest of the players and the state...to remove the game from play."
Lottery officials say a symbol on the ticket is the problem. Some players do not know whether the symbol is a winning prize code or a security mark.
"There were some players that thought they had won, and they had not," said lottery spokeswoman Alice Garland. "That's not a situation that we want to be in."
Officials don't expect any drop in revenue, because 10 other scratch games remain on the market. The North Carolina Lottery will introduce two additional games Tuesday.
"We're still in a good position," Garland said.
The manufacturerof the 2X the Money game is Oberthur Gaming Technologies.